Hello Sore Throat My Old Friend

And you also make the case that catching a cold is not always bad news.

It gives us a chance to get off the merry-go-round for a few days. Because it causes malaise and it makes it so hard to concentrate, it's a way for the body to tell you to slow down for a few days. It's a chance for uninterrupted reading, which few of us get to indulge in the way we used to. The other possible silver lining -- and these are based on very tentative, preliminary epidemiological evidence that I offer with caution -- there were some results that came out of the studies on swine flu that suggest having a cold may actually keep flu at bay. This is controversial, but it is a possibility and scientists are looking at this now.

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/09/19/jennifer_ackerman_common_cold_interview/index.html

Or, if you have some variation of a cold or flu every two months, you look unprofessional as you hack & slouch your way through work or weak & lazy because you stay home and your head is too muddled to read so you watch an endless amount of bad movies on YouTube.